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Kalamazoo has its doubts about Bush-Cheney 9/11 testimony

Sounds like the simple folk in Kalamazoo haven’t learned how to regurgitate the received wisdom yet:

“Still, we continue to be troubled by a number of conditions set by the White House before Bush and Cheney would testify.

It was troubling that Bush and Cheney insisted on being questioned together. What did the White House fear about the two men being questioned separately? That they wouldn’t get their stories straight separately? That Bush might go off the reservation and say something Cheney didn’t want him to?

We also are troubled by the fact that neither Bush nor Cheney were under oath when they answered questions. Granted, it is precedent-setting that a president and vice president would testify before a legislatively created body, but the refusal to answer questions under oath certainly must leave the public wondering.

Finally, we are very troubled by the White House’s demand that no recording, no official transcript, of the interview be made. Certainly we in the media live and die by the official record. Video, audiotapes, transcripts are what those who report the proceedings go on. Ditto for historians a generation from now. Even if today the testimony were classified and sealed from the public, someday an accurate record of what was said at Thursday’s meeting would be invaluable for writers of history trying to understand this era.

Why would the White House make such a demand?……..

And their testimony, which we hope was totally truthful, may do much to help the commission, Congress and the White House reach some concrete conclusions about how to prevent another attack on American soil.”